flooded

Our basement flooded yesterday. The sump pump quit. We've had flooding conditions the last few days because of the rain. The night before last, I checked on the pump and it was running. In the morning, I heard it running a lot. I thought that was good. But it wasn't. It was the secondary pump short-cycling because the water from that sump had no place to go. Why didn't I go down to check on it, when I heard it running too often? No idea. I had just gotten up and wasn't thinking straight? I was in a hurry to get to work? At that point there was probably water damage already, but I would have saved us a lot of work and a lot of damaged things because at that point there probably wouldn't have been standing water.

Last night (after fixing the pump) was spent trying to stop further damage. Anything on the floor was gone, but I went around getting stuff off of the stuff what was wet, so it wouldn't get wet too.

Today I've been tearing up carpet. It's a pain because the carpet pad is foam, so I have to wring it all out before I carry it upstairs. Either that or pour a gallon of water on the floor (and me) every time I try to carry a section up.

The insurance agent says we rejected the rider that would have covered this. Given that I've been worried the pump would fail, that was a dumb move. I guess I didn't understand what it would cover at the time I made that decision. I'm always surprised that this place can flood given that it's about the highest house in the neighborhood.

flood, day 2

I spent all day working on the basement. My dad came and worked about five hours. With his help I was able to get all the carpet and padding pulled out. There is still some trash to haul upstairs. Cyn helped a bit with that tonight.

First, I'd cut he carpet with a utility knife. That was a pain, especially when the blade got dull, which was often. Carpet backing is really abrasive. I've got a few cuts on my hands from it. Then I'd pull it up, roll it up and stand it up to drain some water, before carrying it upstairs to the garage. Then I'd pull the carpet padding up. I'd do it in smallish pieces, because I'd squeeze the water out before carrying it up. I could hardly believe how much water this foam padding could hold. After clearing a section or two, I'd sponge or vacuum up the water. It was slow going doing the carpet, because there was stuff everywhere. We had to move enough stuff out to make space to pull up some carpet, and then move other stuff into that spot.

Water is not drying up. I've got a little exhaust fan in one of the windows, and three other fans just moving air around. And two dehumidifiers. I've got a moisture abatement team coming tomorrow. They'll probably set me up with fans and dehumidifiers. I hope it's not too ungodly expensive.

I ran over to my mom's to pick up a fan. The rivers are all at flood stage. Heights we usually only see in the Spring.

Last night I ignored the things that were already wet, and tried to pick up things that would get wet if I left them where they were. We rescued a lot of art. Only lost one important piece, though almost everything will need to be reframed. I wish I had found my comic books last night. I might have been able to save some.